User blog:Julia-B184/Civil War - Epilogue
January 3, 2579 X-COM Situation Room Bradford sat resignedly in his seat, leaning forward on one elbow with the other arm in a sling. Around him in similar states of depressed silence were Dr. Vahlen and Qrow, relatively uninjured, but also Merrik and several other severely injured X-COM security that had suffered from Svea Ren's brutal Force attack. "I can't believe we let this happen to our home." Bradford muttered, prompting Vahlen to set a hand on his shoulder. "They moved too fast for us to stop them." She reminded him. "It was out of our hands." "You did what you could to stop it, Brad." Qrow's tone denoted he felt guilty for not finding the research facility faster. "Maybe... maybe there's still something we can do, you know?" "I doubt-" Bradford started, but the terminal before him started to beep erratically. "The Spokesman?" Vahlen asked. "Must be." Bradford accepted the call with his good arm, looking to the screen with the others. However, the man that appeared on screen was not their normal Spokesman. This man was somewhat thinner, and in the dim lighting one could tell he had on a white coat and one of his hands had a white glove on it. Qrow looked as if he recognized him, but didn't say anything about it as their new Spokesman began to talk. "The inability of this project to maintain the stability of the Orb Union has greatly reduced the effectiveness of both entitites on Mandalore." He announced. "This entire undertaking was the product of an ill-conceived plan... a series of simple disagreements met with an overzealous response on both sides." Everybody in the room began to lose hope. They knew what was happening, and most of them couldn't blame the new Spokesman at this point in the war. "We believe the best course of action now is to cooperate with the ADVENT Coalition in order to preserve lives both on Mandalore and in the Orb Union. I'm sorry, but we must discontinue our involvement with the X-COM Project." The Spokesman allowed no time for response, moving his hand and pressing a key in front of him that shut off the video feed. Everybody in the room was silent, but Bradford stood up to address them. "If any of you want to leave now, then do it." He said quietly. "There's still some Kingdom territory left. You can go from there back to the Orb Union. Especially you, Branwen." He looked to Qrow. "You shouldn't stay and die for us." "What about you?" Qrow asked. "I'm... going to stay here." Bradford shook his head. "Whether or not I can still do anything. I'm not going to abandon my home now. But I can't drag you down with me." Qrow looked around the room, already seeing some of the operatives on their way out quietly. He sighed. "It was worth a try, Brad. You did what you could." "Thank you, Qrow." Bradford nodded gratefully to him. "But you have to get to Keldab now, before it falls. Get back to Orb. It was an honor serving." Qrow held back from telling Bradford to come with them, instead moving to walk out of the situation room and make his way back to Kingdom territory. He gave one last glance at the room, watching Vahlen walk back over to Bradford. Whether she was saying goodbye or staying with him he didn't know, but he didn't stop to think about it as he started to make his way up the stairwell and find a way from the X-COM base to Keldab. Sundari, Mandalore Alvor Daniselsen stood proudly in front of his podium, flanked by ADVENT captains, shieldbearers, and troopers on each side. On several streets, celebration parades were being held, of ADVENT captains leading their troopers or of the Coalition showing off its new platoons of MEC's, Mechanical Exoskeletal Combatants that served as robotic infantry. Behind Daniselsen was the capitol building of the city of Sundari, which had recently joined the ADVENT Coalition and given them essentially a city they could call their capital. The capitol building itself was draped in the banners of the First Order, and many of the citizens present at the speech were waving small flags. "Loyal citizens... I stand before you truly humbled." Daniselsen gave a bittersweet smile to the people. "On this day of celebration, on this day that we have gained more support from our brothers and sisters despite those working in the shadows against us." He paused. "The Royal Families of the Orb Union have done exactly as we feared - they pooled their resources to form the group of X-COM, not to defend us, but to defend their warehouses from us." Many of the people gasped in shock, though some looked very confused as Daniselsen continued. "X-COM has been responsible for the numerous raids on our facilities, killing scores of our brave soldiers solely so that the royal warehouses are kept safe!" He nodded to an ADVENT shieldbearer, who summoned a display above the crowd. The display showed the logo of the X-COM Project, the signatures of monarchs to organize it, footage from Skyrangers of raids on their facilities. The crowd grew quiet as they realized what had been going on the entire time, especially as they saw the insane degree of weaponry and heavily armed aircraft in their headquarters. As more proof was steadily presented to the people, Daniselsen continued. "So many lives lost... so many needless sacrifices endured as we have struggled to cope with those who would see our great coalition fall." He said in a tone of sorrow, before leaning forward to the crowd. "Today that struggle ends. X-COM is no more." Footage was displayed of ADVENT troopers assaulting the X-COM base. "ADVENT peacekeepers have rendered the last of their stockpiles to ashes. And with it, the fragmented remains of the families' control over us are finally cast away." Slowly, but gaining more people steadily, the crowd began to cheer at the destruction of X-COM. Daniselsen allowed himself a smile and let the crowd cheer as long as they desired before speaking back up. "Thank you all for your continued support." He addressed the audience. "And thank you to the Knights of Ren for their assistance through this crisis. Long live ADVENT!" Danielsen raised his hands above him in victory. "Long live Mandalore!" Category:Blog posts